Academic offices transition leadership

Two major faculty appointments were announced this spring, bringing changes to the Hill. The offices affected include the Registrar’s office and the Academic Support Center. Steve McKelvey, currently a professor in the Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science MSCS department, will be serving as the Registrar and Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs. Kathy Glampe will be moving from Director of Student Support Services to Director of Academic Support and Advising.

McKelvey has been as St. Olaf for 30 years – in the MSCS department the entire time – but plans to commit the next six years to the registrar position. Typically, the registrar serves three-year terms, but the outgoing registrar, Mary Cisar, has resigned from the position after 12 years of service.

Cisar plans to go on sabbatical to pick up her French research, and will return to teaching in the Romance Languages department after that.

“I have enjoyed all the people I got to meet and all the experience I have now with the cirriculum, and I am looking forward to taking all this knowledge I’ve built up and incorporating it into my teaching, and bringing it back to my department,” Cisar said.

McKelvey is unsure if he will stay in the registrar’s office after his six years, or if he will return to the MSCS department after his commitment.

In addition to teaching and research, McKelvey has also served as the Honor Council Faculty Observer, the Interim Director of the Center for Experiential Learning now known as the Piper Center, the Director of the Center for Integrative Studies and four years as the Junior/Senior Class Dean in the Dean of Students Office. He is excited to join the staff in the registrar’s office next year.

“The college is lucky to have such an excellent collection of people in its registrar’s office, and I am extremely excited to have the opportunity to work closely with them in their mission of service to students,” McKelvey said. He will also miss teaching, however, as he transitions to this new position.

“I have found great pleasure and meaning in my role as teacher and mentor, and I am unsure what life will be like without close and long term contact with students,” McKelvey said. “I will miss teaching and watching my students as they slowly grow and mature during their four years at St. Olaf.”

His previous experiences, as well as his time working directly with students as a professor, will help in his new role. His goal is to be “responsible for keeping St. Olaf’s curriculum and teaching current, excellent and relevant to a changing world while remaining true to the time-tested and undeniable value of a traditional liberal arts education,” McKelvey said.

Kathy Glampe, the other new appointment for next year, will be moving from her role with the TRiO program to working in the Academic Support Center. TRiO traditionally works with high schools in the Twin Cities to encourage and assist students to pursue postsecondary education. She has directed the Student Support Services SSS for the past 18 years.

As an alumna of the college herself, she feels connected to the community of students here. In her role within SSS, she “created and implemented innovative programming to support students with the goal of improving their academic achievement, retention and graduation rates.” Glampe is hoping this change is permanent, and is looking forward to beginning her work in the Academic Support Center.

“My goal as the Director of Academic Support and Advising is to create and implement programming that will support all students to be successful at St. Olaf through the services provided by the Academic Support Center and through the relationship that students build with their faculty advisor,” Glampe said of her new role.

Both new appointments promise to bring about positive change as well as maintain the continued success of these offices in the 2015-2016 school year.